NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court order regarding sale of properties of Sahara has put the spotlight once again on Sebi, which had barred Subrata Roy from accessing the markets.

Sahara is the third case where the regulator for stock markets, mutual funds and commodities futures, which has complained of being short-staffed, has been roped in by the court to deal with sale of assets to repay investors. Already, an SC-appointed special committee has demanded a sizeable number of staff to assist in disposing of Pearls Group's properties to repay more than Rs 46,000 crore to nearly six crore investors.

But providing manpower is seen to be a smaller problem compared to the lack of experience that Sebi officials have in dealing with asset sale as this task is usually performed by investment bankers in case of private companies, experts said. In other cases, the task is accomplished through a court-appointed receiver.

Bigger challenge for Sebi would be to deal with titles for the 86 properties that the apex court has cleared for sale. There may be dispute over some properties that will only be known when the documents are thoroughly scanned. And, in several cases, there is a need for a change in land use as there may be few takers for farm land. This itself is going to take several months for Sebi to sort out, said an industry player.

It is only after this that the regulator can even think of moving ahead with the entire process. Valuation — especially at a time when the real estate market is depressed — is completely a different challenge, given that Sebi will have to sell the property to the highest bidder to ensure that it does not get into trouble with CAG or the Central Vigilance Commission guidelines.

An option before Sebi is to hire some professionals who have worked with large real estate consulting firms or in investment banks. But the sale is unlikely to be completed anytime soon.

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The draft allows district-level authorities, headed by the district magistrate, to seek exemption from public hearing while granting green clearance for sand mining in areas up to five hectares of land.

The court said it is the obligation of the government to protect its citizens who belong to middle class family and invested their hard earned money in buying flats but got cheated by builders and facing uncertainty.